Chapter 467: Seeking Asylum

Stearleana was brooding over Saki’s suggestion.

“Move into Saki’s house, huh…?”

“There are plenty of rooms, and it’s very quiet. My dad lives there too, but he’s rarely home anyway…”

Jin also thought it wasn’t such a bad idea.

Moving to Kaina Village meant that they would need to build a new house for Stearleana. And it would have to be built in a single day.

Moreover, the biggest issue was that she wasn’t familiar with the people of Kaina Village. And Kartze Village was even worse in that regard.

Since Saki’s house was located in an isolated area, there weren’t any other houses around it, making it unnecessary for Stearleana to have to interact with any neighbors.

Besides, it was better than one could hope for in terms of keeping her safe from a country. That also made the Shouro Empire the better option as a destination for her.

At any rate, the earlier Stearleana could leave the Celuroa Kingdom, the better. The discussion was settled with her moving into Saki’s house, at least for the time being.

They began with the preparations without delay.

They split into groups and began to gather Stearleana’s belongings. Only a small portion of her furniture would be left behind.

Her clothes, tableware, books, and so on, were packed by Edgar, Ehr, and Selene.

Since her magical tools were heavy, Reiko was put in charge of them. They were 3 boxes weighing about 50 kilograms each.

All of her materials would be left behind as well, except for the rarest ones.

“…Am I forgetting about anything?”

“Well, we may be able to come back to get some more stuff later. But more importantly, are you sure about this? This is the house you’ve grown used to living in, after all…”

Jin asked Stearleana that question after seeing a hint of loneliness in her face. Upon hearing it, she smiled.

“…It’s okay. I have lots of fond memories about this house. But I think it’s better for me to leave these uncomfortable living circ.u.mstances for good.”

“I see…”

Jin nodded, but seemed to still be worried about Stearleana’s somewhat lonely expression.

“Well, let’s go, shall we?”

Each of them took their appointed portion of luggage and went through the Warp Gate installed in Jin’s carriage.

Since the Warp Gate was small, it was impossible to carry a large amount of luggage all at once. For this reason, they left the luggage in “s.h.i.+nkai”, and would go back for it later.

The luggage had been completely moved after two round trips. It had taken them two hours to finish.

The plan was for Steward to take the carriage and use the Warp Gate located in Condor 3, which had been dispatched in a suitable location, to make the return trip.

The time difference between Goa, in the Celuroa Kingdom, and Vanne, in the Shouro Empire, was about 2 hours.

It was about 1 PM when they arrived at Saki’s house.

“Thank you for letting me stay here, Saki.”

With that said, Stearleana went through the front door of the Eschenbach residence, carrying a large bag with her.

“Huh? And you are?”

The voice of a man. Stearleana involuntarily dropped the bag she was carrying.

“Father!”

Saki shouted.

The man standing there was none other than the one who was rarely home: Toa Eschenbach himself.

＊ ＊ ＊

“Hmm, so you’re seeking asylum, correct?”

“A-Ah, yes, that’s why I’ve accepted your daughter’s kind offer.”

Thirty minutes later, Stearleana, Jin, and Elsa, who had all just finished carrying the luggage to Stearleana’s new room, were in the drawing room with Saki.

Incidentally, Hanna hadn’t come along with them from “s.h.i.+nkai” but went to Kaina Village instead. It was about time for her to have dinner with Martha and the others at home.

“I hope I’m not a nuisance to you. Could you let me stay here for a while…?”

Stearleana bowed down, then looked straight into Toa’s face.

Toa was 44 years old. He had reddish-brown hair, and purple-grey eyes that looked a lot like Saki’s. He was a little thinner and a little taller than Stearleana.

“Oh, I’m not really home that often. If my daughter says it’s okay, that’s good enough for me.”

Toa, who wasn’t very concerned about things, easily accepted Stearlana into his home. She was glad that he didn’t ask him anything about how she got there from the Celuroa Kingdom or anything like that.

“…So, what about the rest of you?”

He then turned to Jin and the others.

“Ah, my name is Jin. I’m Saki’s friend.”

“…I’m Elsa. It truly has been a while…”

After taking a good look at Elsa’s face for a moment as if trying to remember…

“Elsa…? Oh, you’re that young lady! Long time no see! You’ve really grown up a lot!”

…Toa’s voice came out quite loudly and full of energy.

“Y-Yeah…”

Though he was but a commoner at the time, Elsa had met with Toa -who turned out to be Saki’s father- several times in the past.

“So are you Elsa’s husband, Jin?”

“Uh…”

“N-No, Brother Jin is, w-well, l-like a brother to me…”

With slightly reddened cheeks, Elsa desperately shook her head left and right. Saki, who was sitting right next to Toa, looked at her as if she thought that Elsa wasn’t acting like her normal self.

“Oh, looks like it’s a little more complicated than I thought, huh?”

After saying that, Toa didn’t pursue the topic any further.

As for Stearleana, she was looking straight at Toa.

“Can you create crystals with alchemy, Mr. Eschenbach?”

Toa let out a chuckle upon hearing her question.

“Haha, even though it’s called alchemy, it can’t create things out of thin air. It’s all a matter of changing something’s properties and making things do something else…”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yes, though I once tried to create gold…”

Toa and Stearleana seemed to get along very well, as they appeared to be on the same wavelength.

Saki looked at his father, who was a little bit more enthusiastic than usual, as if she thought that he wasn’t acting like his normal self either.

“Anyway, I’m glad we’ve found a new home for Stearleana.”

“Definitely. I’m relieved to see that my father is okay with it as well.”

“Sis Saki, it looks like your father and Stearleana are getting along very well.”

It was Elsa who said that. Certainly, Toa and Stearleana seemed to be talking fairly intimately, even though they were meeting for the first time.

“Shall we head back to Hourai Island, Elsa? We have to take a look at Edgar.”

“…Right. Let’s go.”

That was the reason Jin gave Elsa for having to return to Hourai Island. Jin thought that Saki might have a lot of things to talk about with his father, who she hadn’t seen in quite some time.

In fact, there were many things Jin himself wanted to talk about with Toa, but he prioritized Saki and Toa’s father-and-daughter time. It was part of Jin’s characteristic thoughtfulness.

“See you later then, Saki.”

“Yeah, see you later.”

Thus Jin, Elsa, Reiko, and Edgar all returned to Hourai Island.

＊ ＊ ＊

“First, let’s power Edgar off.”

It was already night on Hourai Island, but the first thing they did upon returning there was, of course, taking care of Edgar’s maintenance.

The undressed Edgar lay on the workbench. His creator, Elsa, said the keyword “Stop”.

Jin and Elsa started to take Edgar apart according to the usual procedure.

“Ah, he did take some damage after all.”

Jin had asked Elsa what exactly had happened while Reiko, Hanna, and he himself were absent, but after carefully examining Edgar, he could imagine how the situation had been with a bit more detail.

“His skeleton is a little bent here and there… I’m glad we used aluminum to make it.”

Aluminum is not only a light and durable material, but also has a fair degree of elasticity. For this reason, it wouldn’t break even after being attacked. Had Edgar’s skeleton been made out of bronze, his bones would have snapped like a human’s.

“Let’s change it into Aluminum 64.”

“Yeah.”

It was a material that was stronger than regular aluminum, enhanced with the effects of the “Hardening” and “Toughen” spells. In addition, they reinforced the essential parts with adamant.i.te.

Elsa did most of the work herself. Jin only stood by her side and offered her guidance when needed.

“Alright, now we need to increase his output.”

Considering Edgar also had the purpose of protecting Elsa, it was an undeniable fact that he was lacking in power to do so effectively. It would be more desirable to make him a little stronger than the Quinta.

They decided to replace his Magical Muscle with Sham Dragon material.

They also redesigned his ether converter and mana driver to be able to produce a higher output.

After three hours of work, Edgar’s repairs and upgrades went without a hitch.